Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jul;27(7):1230-1238.
doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01378-7. Epub 2021 May 25.

COVID-19 in Amazonas, Brazil, was driven by the persistence of endemic lineages and P.1 emergence

Felipe Gomes Naveca  1 , Valdinete Nascimento  2 , Victor Costa de Souza  2 , André de Lima Corado  2 , Fernanda Nascimento  2 , George Silva  2 , Ágatha Costa  2 , Débora Duarte  2 , Karina Pessoa  2 , Matilde Mejía  2 , Maria Júlia Brandão  2 , Michele Jesus  3 , Luciana Gonçalves  4 , Cristiano Fernandes da Costa  4 , Vanderson Sampaio  4 , Daniel Barros  4 , Marineide Silva  5 , Tirza Mattos  5 , Gemilson Pontes  6 , Ligia Abdalla  7 , João Hugo Santos  8 , Ighor Arantes  9 , Filipe Zimmer Dezordi  10 , Marilda Mendonça Siqueira  11 , Gabriel Luz Wallau  10 , Paola Cristina Resende  11 , Edson Delatorre  12 , Tiago Gräf  13 , Gonzalo Bello  14
Affiliations

COVID-19 in Amazonas, Brazil, was driven by the persistence of endemic lineages and P.1 emergence

Felipe Gomes Naveca et al. Nat Med. 2021 Jul.

Abstract

The northern state of Amazonas is among the regions in Brazil most heavily affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and has experienced two exponentially growing waves, in early and late 2020. Through a genomic epidemiology study based on 250 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes from different Amazonas municipalities sampled between March 2020 and January 2021, we reveal that the first exponential growth phase was driven mostly by the dissemination of lineage B.1.195, which was gradually replaced by lineage B.1.1.28 between May and June 2020. The second wave coincides with the emergence of the variant of concern (VOC) P.1, which evolved from a local B.1.1.28 clade in late November 2020 and replaced the parental lineage in <2 months. Our findings support the conclusion that successive lineage replacements in Amazonas were driven by a complex combination of variable levels of social distancing measures and the emergence of a more transmissible VOC P.1 virus. These data provide insights to understanding the mechanisms underlying the COVID-19 epidemic waves and the risk of dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 VOC P.1 in Brazil and, potentially, worldwide.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Nascimento, V. A. D. et al. Genomic and phylogenetic characterisation of an imported case of SARS-CoV-2 in Amazonas State, Brazil. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz 115, e200310 (2020). - DOI
    1. Fundação em Vigilância e Saúde do Amazonas. Boletim diários dos casos de COVID-19. https://www.fvs.am.gov.br/media/publicacao/21_02_21_BOLETIM_DIÁRIO_DE_CA... (2021).
    1. Fujino, T. et al. Novel SARS-CoV-2 variant identified in travelers from Brazil to Japan. Emerg. Infect. Dis. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2704.210138 (2021).
    1. Faria, N. R. et al. Genomics and epidemiology of the P.1 SARS-CoV-2 lineage in Manaus, Brazil. Science https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abh2644 (2021).
    1. Sabino, E. C. et al. Resurgence of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil, despite high seroprevalence. Lancet 397, 452–455 (2021). - DOI

Publication types